Projectingreality 'Superstar' Gardner, a Goshen native, returns to support music program

November 13, 2005|KARYN BONFIGLIO

What do you do after you win a national music talent show? If you're Dan Gardner, you write a television sitcom about it. The 35-year-old singer-songwriter -- who performs Thursday and Friday at Goshen College's Sauder Hall -- got his big break in 2002 when he beat 4,100 contestants to win the "Today Superstar" contest on NBC's "Today" show. "There were a lot of things that happened to me that were both good and bad," the Goshen native says. "I ended up logging these experiences down and thought, 'Wow, this is really funny material, and people should know about it.' " From his home in Atlanta, Gardner has been working with Turner Television on a sitcom inspired by his experiences on "Today." "We've been developing not only a pilot, but the first group of episodes," Gardner says of the loosely autobiographical sitcom. "It's a comedy based on somebody who wins a contest like (the one on 'Today'), reaching that semifame level, and where you go from there." It's a question he has had to answer in his own life. "This experience has changed me," Gardner says. "I'd done a couple of television shows before the 'Today' show. I'd been on 'Star Search,' (but) the 'Today' show threw in a dose of reality for me." He realized people successful in the music industry were "constantly hunting" for their next job. The key to success was "being in the right place at the right time," Gardner says, but "what really pays off in the end is networking and meeting people. And then having the talent to back that up." Gardner's talent was nurtured at Goshen High School, and the former music teacher hopes to give some of his success back to the program. Gardner will perform tunes from his 2003 CD, "More Than Life," during the two shows at Sauder Hall. Goshen College alumnus Anna Montgomery will join him onstage. Now living in Los Angeles, Montgomery (winner of the Los Angeles Music Awards Adult Contemporary Artist of the Year in 2003) will perform songs from her debut CD, "Lyin' in the Face of Love." "We'll have a segment with the Crimsonaires where we'll do a throwback to the Nylons and do some more pop-showy tunes," Gardner says of performing songs such as "Up on the Roof," "Kiss Him Goodbye" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water" with the Goshen High School vocal ensemble at the two concerts. Following each concert, Gardner and Montgomery will be available to sign autographs and sell their CDs. "Anna and I were both formerly Crimsonaires at Goshen High School," he says. The Crimsonaires gave them opportunities to travel to New York and see Broadway shows, and even "create our own type of music if we wanted," Gardner says. "It's good to give back to that program because I had such a great experience." Proceeds raised from the shows will benefit the Goshen High School Crimsonaires Scholarship fund. A portion of the proceeds also will benefit the Goshen College Community School of the Arts Acorn Scholarship program, which helps lower-income students afford private voice lessons.